12
Berlin 1911–1914
Of patents, publications, and the prelude to war.
You can fool all of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the
people all of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time ….
Abraham Lincoln, US President, 1809–1865.
12.1 The Patent War 1911–12
As director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical and Electrochemistry
at Dahlem Berlin, Haber was to move from the laboratory into the ‘office’.
Leaving the laboratory was never a challenge for Haber for he rarely showed
any enthusiasm or aptitude for what to him was the tedium of experimental
practise. Theoretical physical chemistry too was changing. A new picture of
the atom was emerging through quantum mechanics, and its application to
chemistry led to a new generation of mathematical tools which had largely left
Haber behind.
1 Instead, the ‘great man’ began to transform himself into a
‘great German’. Like Nernst he soon became Geheimrat or privy councillor
(Chap. 2). He accepted a place in the councils of government, advising
Germany’s elite in matters of science and industry. His rather pompous style
—first exhibited in Leipzig (Chap. 2)—had by now been embellished with
trademark cigar and fashionable clothes. Profiles, policies, politics, budgets
and administration were to become the order of the day. There was much to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_12
223
Berlin 1911–1914
Of patents, publications, and the prelude to war.
You can fool all of the people some of the time. You can fool some of the
people all of the time. But you can’t fool all of the people all of the time ….
Abraham Lincoln, US President, 1809–1865.
12.1 The Patent War 1911–12
As director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical and Electrochemistry
at Dahlem Berlin, Haber was to move from the laboratory into the ‘office’.
Leaving the laboratory was never a challenge for Haber for he rarely showed
any enthusiasm or aptitude for what to him was the tedium of experimental
practise. Theoretical physical chemistry too was changing. A new picture of
the atom was emerging through quantum mechanics, and its application to
chemistry led to a new generation of mathematical tools which had largely left
Haber behind.
1 Instead, the ‘great man’ began to transform himself into a
‘great German’. Like Nernst he soon became Geheimrat or privy councillor
(Chap. 2). He accepted a place in the councils of government, advising
Germany’s elite in matters of science and industry. His rather pompous style
—first exhibited in Leipzig (Chap. 2)—had by now been embellished with
trademark cigar and fashionable clothes. Profiles, policies, politics, budgets
and administration were to become the order of the day. There was much to
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
D. Sheppard, Robert Le Rossignol, Springer Biographies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29714-5_12
223